Cal State Fullerton
Mustangs Return Home to Welcome Cal State Fullerton March 22-23
3/19/2025 11:24:00 AM | Softball
Cal Poly Softball
Upcoming Matchups
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Seeking its first Big West victory of 2025, the Cal Poly softball program hosts Cal State Fullerton for a three-game, March 22-23 series at Bob Janssen Field. Action gets underway with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, March 22 and follows with a 12 noon single matchup on Sunday, March 23. Swept at home by CSUN (March 8-9) and at UC Davis (March 15-16) to start Big West play, Cal Poly (4-23, 0-6) still resides just three games behind sixth-place Cal State Fullerton (16-12, 3-3) in the conference standings with the top six programs qualifying for the inaugural May 7-10 Big West Championship. Cal State Fullerton, swept at UC Santa Barbara last weekend after taking all three series games at UC San Diego (March 8-9), leads the Big West and ranks 33rd among 300 NCAA Division I programs with a .333 team batting average.
FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEKEND: Live stats for all three matchups versus Cal State Fullerton will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.
CAL POLY VERSUS CAL STATE FULLERTON: Looking to snap a 15-game slide against Cal State Fullerton after being swept in five successive series from 2021-24 and in 2019, Cal Poly’s last victory against the Titans was a 3-0 home win on May 6, 2018. Cal Poly’s last series win against Cal State Fullerton came in 2018 with the Mustangs taking two of three road matchups. Cal Poly, which trails in the all-time series, 62-31, since the first meeting on March 4, 1980, has won just one of the last nine series against Cal State Fullerton.
BARNETT ADDS OFFENSE TO THE RESUME: The reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Year honoree, senior catch Julia Barnett remains Cal Poly’s top hitter, leading the Mustangs with a .347 (25-for-72) batting average, 25 hits, 33 total bases, 14 RBI and a .458 slugging percentage. Having hit safely in 13 of her last 17 game and a team best 17 times this season, Barnett – who swatted her second career homer during a Feb. 8 home matchup with Oregon State – also paces Cal Poly with seven multi-hit games and four multi-RBI games A starter in all 110 games since the start of the 2023 season, Barnett is a .987 career fielder with just nine errors in 686 total chances.
BERMUDEZ BREAKS OUT: Hitting safely in 16 of her first 23 collegiate games, freshman left fielder Maddy Bermudez enters Cal Poly’s March 22-23 series with Cal State Fullerton as the program’s second leading hitter with a .309 (21-for-68) mark. Batting .357 (10-for-28) in Cal Poly’s last nine games, Bermudez co-leads Cal Poly with nine runs while topping the Mustangs with two triples. Bermudez is one of only three Mustangs to start all 23 games and the only freshman to do so.
BLANCHARD HEATS UP: Having reached base in 14 of her last 15 appearances, junior center fielder Kiara Blanchard – the Big West’s co-leader with eight doubles – enters Cal Poly’s March 22-23 series with Cal State Fullerton batting .458 (11-for-24) in the program’s last nine outings. Second in Cal Poly’s lineup with six multi-hit games, four of those efforts for Blanchard have come since March 1.
ERSKINE ON THE RISE: Just one Mustang – senior catcher Julia Barnett – had produced a three-game game this season until freshman shortstop Sienna Erskine accomplished the feat for the first time in her career during Cal Poly’s 4-3 win against Loyola Marymount (March 2). With just one hit in her first seven collegiate games, Erskine – a starter in 19 of 22 appearances – has three multi-hit efforts in her last 11 outings.
CONDON ON THE VERGE OF MORE HISTORY: The winningest female head coach in university history, Jenny Condon requires just 19 more Mustang victories to become only the fifth head coach in Big West history to reach 500 career wins. Cal Poly’s April 12 doubleheader opening matchup at UC Riverside will also mark Condon’s 1,000th career game – a figure reached by just two previous Big West head coaches. A four-time Big West Coach of the Year honoree, Condon ranks sixth in conference history with both 481 total victories and 206 Big West wins.
CAL POLY SELECTED FIFTH IN BIG WEST PRESEASON POLL: A year after finishing third in the Big West standings with an 18-8 mark, Cal Poly was selected for a fifth-place finish during the 2025 season following the Jan. 30 release of the conference preseason coaches’ poll. The Mustangs earned 45 points to finish seven votes shy of Hawai’i. Long Beach State, last season’s Big West runner-up, took top spot in the poll with 81 total points and nine of 10 first-place votes. Defending champion Cal State Fullerton earned 63 points and the remaining first-place vote. UC Santa Barbara was third on 59 points.
Mustangs home this weekend to host Cal State Fullerton for a Saturday, March 22 doubleheader and Sunday, March 23 single matchup! Ticket link below.#RideHigh
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) March 17, 2025
???https://t.co/g5dpUveOlJ pic.twitter.com/ogvB1laae8
